Baby boomers caused a “lost generation of gardeners” as parents neglected to teach their children about growing plants and vegetables, the Royal Horticultural Society has claimed.

People aged between 25 and 40 are less likely to tend to their gardens because their parents treated outdoor areas like extensions of their living rooms, it said.

This meant gardens were often paved or decked in low-maintenance schemes and included tables and chairs instead of plants.

The lost generation are the ones from their mid-twenties to fortiesSue Biggs

Sue Biggs, director general of the society, said she believed the gap in knowledge was because Britons that age were born after it became common for both parents to work.

“The lost generation are the ones from their mid-twenties to forties,” she said, according to The Times.

“For a lot of them, their parents just didn’t teach them gardening and we lost a lot of the skills.”

Ms Biggs explained that her mother did not work and consequently had time to teach her children about plants and gardens.

For a lot of them, their parents just didn’t teach them gardening and we lost a lot of the skillsSue Biggs

Her comments came after a RHS survey, which saw 500 people from three different generations asked about their gardening habits, showed that less than 1 per cent of parents were taught how to garden in school.

This was in comparison with 55 per cent of grandparents, the 2011 research showed.

A separate survey, from the same year, revealed that more than half of children did not know how broccoli grew while nearly 80 per cent did not know how to recognise foxgloves.

The RHS has ramped up its promotion of gardening and green outdoor areas ahead of the start of the Chelsea Flower Show tomorrow.